


When The Language Changes

by OnlyStraightForJongup



Category: B.A.P
Genre: Attempts to be realistic, Cute, Fluff, Introspection, Love, M/M, himup - Freeform, making memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 21:46:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11563968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlyStraightForJongup/pseuds/OnlyStraightForJongup
Summary: Jongup managed to get Himchan to wake up way too early and go somewhere with him after they arrive in New York.  Himchan just loves making memories with Jongup, even if his mind doesn't always work the same as everyone else's."Do you think a person could change like this?  Go from a railroad to a garden?"





	When The Language Changes

**Author's Note:**

> So I visited Highline Park in New York today and this happened
> 
> Let me know what you think. I know it's not really a normal thing for fanfiction but eh oh well I liked it so XD Thank you for reading!

Himchan groaned, tossing his arm over his closed eyes as a quiet _“hyung”_ pulled him from sleep.

“Jongup-ah?” he said, his dry voice croaking and forcing him to clear his throat to avoid sounding like he'd been abandoned in a desert. Even half asleep, he could recognize Jongup’s gentle voice.

“If you changed your mind, it’s okay.” Himchan finally opened his eyes, blinking away the fuzz until he could make out Jongup leaning over him. Oh right. He’d agreed to go out with Jongup early that morning.

They arrived in – New York? America, anyway – late the night before, stumbling into bed and knowing the concert the next day would come all too quick. But then Jongup had caught him before he fell asleep, asking him if he wanted to go somewhere early in the morning. 

Himchan had meant to say no. He had wanted to tell Jongup to sleep and not run himself into the ground trying to sight-see, but Jongup had looked so excited, and his eyes had pleaded with Himchan. 

They both knew they wouldn’t have any other time, and so Himchan agreed to forgo the much-needed hours of sleep.

“No, I want to go to -" he realized Jongup never said where he wanted to go to "-wherever it is," he finished lamely. Jongup had only said he’d wanted to go there for a long time, and it was in walking distance from the hotel. 

_”When will we get another chance, hyung? I want to make some memories here.”_ Himchan hadn't been able to say no to that. 

Jongup’s smile gave him the energy necessary to sit up in bed. The small kiss he got for the effort gave him the energy to stand up. 

The coffee Jongup pressed into his hands did the rest. He gulped it down as he got dressed, pulling on over-sized clothes and a face mask. Jongup echoed his clothing choices, hiding himself under layers despite the mid-spring warmth. 

“Where are we even going?” Himchan asked, trying to sound open and like he was interested in it, not just interested in making Jongup happy. They both knew it was an act, but Jongup still smiled at him, which Himchan thought meant he appreciated the effort.

For as well as Himchan knew Jongup, he still had things to learn. He loved that about Jongup; Himchan could never grow tired of him. 

“It’s a garden,” Jongup said, yawning from under his mask as they slipped from the hotel room. Himchan grabbed Jongup’s hand as they headed towards the elevator. Once inside, protected from prying eyes and media backlash by heavy metal doors, Jongup pulled down their masks and pressed small kisses on Himchan's face. 

One of the things he'd learned about Jongup was how well he spoke without words. Himchan loved how he said 'thank you' and couldn't hide a smile as Jongup's lips pressed against his cheek.

“Is it a big garden?” Himchan smiled as he considered walking through it with Jongup, who nodded at his question. Some garden in New York (it was New York, right? Not Chicago? Or L.A?) couldn’t be too busy at this time in the morning, so he could even count it as one of those rare moments to themselves. The sun had only just begun to rise in the sky, and the air still held a chill as they moved through the doors.

Even so, the streets still bustled with people, and Himchan released Jongup’s hand, fixing his mask and watching Jongup do the same. They met eyes, both looking a little apologetic, but both also knowing it was necessary. If someone recognized them... well, the fans did talk, and they didn't need that.

“Is it far?” Himchan asked as they pushed through a crowd of people moving in the opposite direction. Jongup shook his head, which made Himchan frown, peering down a street in the direction they seemed to be heading. He couldn’t see any sort of big garden.

A woman bumped into him, muttering out a quick apology before he even comprehended what happened. By the time he translated her words in his head, she was long gone. Himchan looked forward to going home, where most people around him understood the same language he did. 

Going different places was fun, but knowing if something happened they’d struggle to convey anything to most people here bothered him. Of the group, he spoke the least English, and Jongup didn’t know much more than him. It rarely mattered to him; he cared a lot more about the music they made than the languages they spoke, but it made the countries they visited while on tour seem even more alien.

Himchan hoped Jongup knew where he was going. Cars and taxis and buses rushed by, becoming trapped in traffic and honking their horns. Himchan couldn’t imagine a big garden anywhere near this place. There was hardly space for weeds to grow between the cracks in the concrete.

Jongup motioned to the sign just before Himchan’s eyes landed on it. He followed Jongup up the stairs, reading “Highline Park.” Himchan didn’t know what Highline meant, though he wondered if the “high” was because of the staircases. He did know the word “park” however, and he wasn't sure why they were climbing stairs stretching above a city to reach a park.

“It’s an old railroad,” Jongup told him, right as they reached the top. Himchan looked around the platform, spotting paths that stretched out to either side and a few people wandering through them. “They changed it from a railroad to a garden.”

His words made the garden make more sense; the raised platform was a narrow walkway that passed buildings and towered over roads. It surprised Himchan how easy it was to forget they’d climbed the stairs at all; they still were much lower than the tops of the buildings. He could see old tracks laid down along the pathway, with lush green plants growing in patches of soil throughout them.

“They have trees up here!” Himchan walked over to the white-barked trees, glancing down to see what looked like only inches of soil. Jongup followed him, a smile tugging at his lips and coming to stand so close to Himchan their arms brushed against each other.

He could understand why Jongup wanted to come to this place. Jongup had always enjoyed museums and places rich in history. It took Himchan years to realize what he thought was Jongup wandering aimlessly was actually Jongup following anything that interested him.

He rarely spoke about what he learned from those places, but every once in a while he’d make a comment that left Himchan wondering just how much he remembered about museums they had visited years ago when they had just a bit of free time and nothing better to do.

“Do you think they know they’re in the air?” Jongup asked, leaning further into Himchan. He smelled like Himchan’s body wash, which made sense. Jongup forgot at least one of his toiletries every single time they went to a hotel, and he usually borrowed whatever he needed from Himchan.

“The trees?” Himchan tried to keep the incredulous note out of his voice but didn't quite manage it.

Jongup nodded, not seeming to notice Himchan's tone. He did catch Himchan's raised eyebrows though, and he added, “Plants are really smart. You know how grass smells after you cut it? That’s a chemical; it’s how grass screams. It tells all the other plants something is hurting it.”

“But they still don’t do anything,” Himchan said, frowning as he accepted the new information. The idea of grass screaming was… jarring, to say the least. He used to have an air freshener which smelled like a fresh lawn. Himchan wondered why screaming smelled so good.

“The other plants make a bunch more of the things that protect them when the grass smells,” Jongup corrected. “They try to do something.” Himchan nodded, and Jongup paused for a long moment. “I bet they do know.”

Jongup tended to travel through these places silently, his thoughts locked deep in his head. He offered the occasional comment to Himchan, but that was it.

Himchan knew that even didn't get to hear everything that ran through Jongup’s head.

In the garden, even with Jongup's silence, Himchan found he didn’t mind how Jongup dragged him out of bed hours early. Seeing him make memories made it all worth it. 

Jongup led him down the other path, and Himchan was happy to just follow after him, watching him hop plant to plant, to peer over the edges of the walkway down onto the street below. At one point, he motioned downwards, and Himchan realized he could see the yellow color of taxis through the grate underneath his feet. 

He startled, and Jongup laughed from behind his mask. Even the muffled sound made Himchan’s heart pound. 

“Do you think a person can change like this? Go from a railroad to a garden?” Jongup said it as though the comment wasn't completely senseless. He did that a lot with his stranger thoughts. A lot of people, occasionally even their other bandmates, laughed at him for it, but Himchan was slowly learning that Jongup’s comments made sense in their own way.

Another reason he liked Jongup: he asked questions that other people never even thought about.

“I think so,” Himchan said. “With time.” Jongup nodded, and his smiling eyes lingered on Himchan for just a moment longer than necessary. Himchan recognized it as another thank you. 

Jongup knew they were weird comments. Sometimes he didn’t care and said them anyway, knowing he wouldn’t get the reaction or answer he wanted. He smiled and bore the condescending looks and remarks as though he didn't register them at all.

Most times, he didn’t bother to say them aloud. Himchan found the more he tried to honestly answer Jongup’s stranger questions, the more he got to hear. He liked that Jongup trusted him more than anyone else with his unfiltered thoughts and questions.

Ahead of them, a pigeon walked, moving up the walkway with its head bobbing and its little legs moving fast. Jongup pointed it out, his eyes betraying his hidden smile. Himchan laughed, watching it speed up as they did, trying to not fly but still escape them.

“For as much that’s different here, some things are the same,” Himchan said, watching the pigeon finally give up and fly away. He’d watched Yongguk go around the world quacking like a duck and laughed at him for it, but that really said something, didn’t it?

Even if people didn’t speak Korean and couldn’t understand Yongguk’s words, they understood the duck noises. The picture of a duck that appeared in Himchan’s mind when Yongguk made those sounds was similar to the one that appeared in Yongguk’s mind.

It was also similar to the picture that these strangers would think of when imagining a duck. Himchan shook his head, clearing the thought before he got lost in it. That wasn’t important. He stopped, peering over the railing at a group of pigeons Jongup was watching.

“Did you know they’re doves?” Jongup asked. “Not pigeons. It’s funny how much changes when you use a different word.”

Often it took Himchan a minute to comprehend Jongup’s comments but he understood this one immediately. This one, he understood exactly because Jongup already taught him about it. At some point, Jongup had transformed from a cute kid to a beautiful man in Himchan's mind. Somehow he'd gathered the courage to tell Jongup about that when it happened, and it had led to their first kiss together.

Some time more recently, Himchan went from liking Jongup to loving him, but he hadn’t told Jongup that one yet.

“Some of the plants are dying,” Himchan pointed out as they continued down the path. “I wonder why.”

“Not dying,” Jongup corrected. “They’re just done. They’re spring flowers, and it’s over.”

Himchan let out a small hum. That made sense, but his next thought made him frown. “I don’t know why they don’t take them out.” Jongup shrugged.

“I’m glad they don’t. Everyone cares too much about everything looking perfect. I like it messy.” Himchan smiled at him again, finding himself unable to take his eyes off Jongup. He agreed with this statement too. 

For their performances, stylists caked Jongup in makeup that made his already prominent cheekbones stand out and made his face more angular-looking. He always looked harsher with the makeup, more intense. Sometimes, they put so much on him that the beauty mark on his nose got mostly buried, almost invisible under it all.

Himchan liked him better messy. Standing in the garden with a bare face and sleepy eyes and hair that just barely passed for styled, Jongup looked the most beautiful. He’d once told Jongup that, and then he immediately regretted it, expecting Jongup to deny it or protest like people did in dramas.

It took him only a couple seconds to remember it was _Jongup_ he was talking to, not some person in a drama. Jongup only smiled back at him, and in that smile, Himchan heard 'thank you.'

“People think all this is simple.” Jongup gestured out all around him, spinning to encompass the entire garden in the motion. “But then think humans are complicated. There’s thousands of organisms here all working together, and humans are only one species. I think we’re just biased.”

Himchan knew he was biased because he loved watching Jongup and learning his complicated ways a lot more than watching the garden around him. He figured he's allowed to be biased when he's in love, and Himchan loves to see Jongup making memories.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you again for reading, and thank you in advance for any feedback or kudos you leave! I think this turned out really cute.


End file.
